January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

1. Brutalism – Idles
2. Party – Aldous Harding
3. Three Futures – Torres
4. In My Head – Gurr
5. Relatives in Descent – Protomartyr
6. The Witch – Pumarosa
7. Let the Danvers Inherit the Earth – British Sea Power
8. The Texas Jerusalem Crossroad (re-release) – Lift to Experience
9. Young, Dumb and Full Of… – Cabbage
10. Citizen of Glass – Agnes Obel
11. Carry Fire – Robert Plant
12. Peasant – Richard Dawson
13. Holiday Destination – Nadine Shah
14. Popular Music – Life
15. Dark Days and Canapés – Ghostpoet
16. Visions of A Life – Wolf Alice
17. Stellular – Rose Elinor Dougal
18. Strange Peace – Metz
19. Rock N Roll Consciousness – Thurston Moore
20. Every Valley – Public Service Broadcasting

I had aimed to see more new artists this year. But looking back at the year. There were about a dozen bands I saw at least once, so the number of new bands is lower than I had intended. For example, I managed to catch Aldous Harding six times this year. Sadly, it was a quiet year for British Sea Power. Hopefully, with a new album in 2017, they will be more opportunities to see them.

January, was busier than usual. The Savages released their new album with an 8am gig at the 100 Club. (No, that’s not a typo). It’s the first time I’ve queued and seen the sun rise! But it was a brilliant start to the year. Even at 8am, they played with a verve and intensity most bands can’t match.

The Slaves also transitioned to the bigger stage with remarkable ease, playing a fantastic set at the Forum. At the time, I thought that would be the last time I’d catch them, as I’m not a fan of the bigger venues, but more on that later.

I also managed to catch a few new bands. The most impressive were Chorusgirl who played an effortless set at the Lexington.

February was a quiet month, as serious economising kicked in so that I had enough dollars for SXSW. But despite the limited number, it was pretty high quality. With gigs from Sunflower Bean, the always fun King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and the Joy Formidable. The big highlight was another Savages gig. This time accompanied by another of my favourites, Bo Ningen. An almost perfect line-up.

SWSW dominated March. Two weeks in the sun (and thunderstorms) of Austin. It was an odd experience. It’s still a unique festival. There’s just so much to see and do. My two weeks varied from Film Premiers, to Nasa talking about telescopes, to listening to a talk by Barack Obama. How many festivals can boast such a wide-range of events? Every day, there was free food and drink to be found and even during the Interactive portion of the festival, I was able to find bands playing somewhere in Austin.

But it was also disappointing.

The reason why I loved SXSW was how quickly I could bounce between venues. Sadly, the significant presence of rap on the bill has changed the festival for the worse. Spring Breakers are now descending on Austin hoping to catch free shows. After deaths in 2014, Austin has been trying to reduce the number of unofficial shows. So many arrive and find they have nowhere to go, so walk up and down the main streets between venues making it difficult to move around. So rather than rap artists appearing across the city, as they previously did. Entire venues are essentially given over to rap to make it easier to police, pushing the indie venues away from the centre. This means that moving between venues becomes more of an ordeal. Don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy my two weeks. I still managed to catch well over 100 bands. But it was just so frustrating moving around. Luckily, I can’t afford it this year. So I’ll be able to watch it from afar. Hopefully, the crowds won’t be so bad this year. If they continue to get worse, then I guess I’ll have to find a new festival!

April was light relief from the intensity of March. Black Mountain impressed with their analogue goodness. But it was Aldous Harding‘s two performances that impressed me the most. Especially the gig at Hoxton Square where she managed to silence a usually noisy crowd and did a frankly amazing Kate Bush cover.

The Great Escape has become a permanent fixture of May. Although it hasn’t the range of bands that SXSW has, it’s actually a great value festival (early bird tickets are about £50) and I now use it as an opportunity to take a short break in Brighton, to have a few beers, relax and catch a few new bands.

The standout gig in May was YAK. I had been trying to catch them for months and finally managed to see them at SXSW. Their gig at Dingwalls was their biggest headline set and it quickly descended into anarchy as the band scattered the photographers by diving into the enthusiastic crowd. After that point, it was a constant stream of crowd surfers.

British Sea Power have been quiet this year recording a new album. But a summer tour dragged me down to Gloucester for a short June break. Also in June, Camden Rocks was mildly diverting, if a little expensive for the number of bands I managed to catch. But it did feature a great new band called the Nova Twins and a favourite from 2016, Queen Kwong.

Bat For Lashes released her new album in July and her Rough Trade gig and made me wonder why I’ve never listened to her before. The new album was one of the best of 2016 and Natasha has a really nice live voice.

August was incredibly quiet. I think everyone was away on holiday. For me, it meant attending a few Proms. But I did catch some new music in the form of Pumarosa who played the Globe Theatre.

September was a pretty strong month. The Slaves decided to launch their new album with a return to some of the small venues they played on the way up. So for the £1, I got to see The Slaves play The Horn for a second time. But this time, it was packed out by a much more enthusiastic crowd. It was great to see the venue’s staff buzzing with the excitement of a big band playing their venue.

Earlier in the year, The Kills played SXSW and Village Underground. But I’d failed to catch them. So there was no way I was going to miss October’s Roundhouse gig. They finally added a drummer to the mix. I’ve been saying for years that they should and it definitely added to their performance and this was one of my highlights of the year.

The Savages returned to the UK after a long US tour playing their biggest headline gig at the Brixton Academy. They’re such an excellent live band. They seem to be able to take each step up to the ladder with ease and November’s gig had all the passion and energy they have showed throughout their career. It’s was always my concern that they’d fail to transfer the energy to the larger stage. But I shouldn’t have been. Their Brixton gig energised me in the same way, everyone of their previous gigs had. Sadly, it looks like touring has taken its toll and they are taking a well earned break to work on their own projects. Hopefully, it won’t be a permanent.

November, also continued the 2016 love affair with the etherial music of Aldous Harding. Playing new material from her forthcoming album, it sounds like it’s going to be one of my highlights of 2017.

Closing out the year, British Sea Power‘s December gig, was a highlight of a pretty quiet month.

Best Gig: Savages at the 100 Club

So many good gigs this year. But the unique experience of getting up early, travelling into London for an 8am gig was my highlight. It was so odd watching Londoners scurry off to work while I’m queuing for a gig. It was even more odd, leaving a venue before 10am in the morning.

Band of the year: Aldous Harding and Savages

Both Aldous Harding and Savages have have been brilliant live this year. So it would be unfair to separate them.

The Savages are simply the best live band around and they showed this by playing an 8am gig in the 100 Club. How many bands could motivate themselves to play with such energy before the World’s woken up?

Similarly, Aldous Harding needs her own call out. Her music is bewitching. She has such a distinctive voice and performance style. There’s really no one else like her around. Her gigs this year have been excellent. Hopefully, she’ll tour the new album next year.

Best new band: Pumarosa

Lots of good news bands. But there are times when you first see a band at the right moment. I’d heard some of Pumarosa’s music earlier in the year and really enjoyed it. So they were on the list of bands I was trying to catch. The lead singer is very theatrical, dancing and twirling around the stage. So catching them play the candlelit, Globe Theatre, was a perfect introduction to the band.

Best venue: Sam Wanamaker Theatre at the Globe

How many venues have somebody coming around between sets to swap the candles. It such a beautiful little theatre and made a surprisingly good music venue.

Best Festival: SXSW

There was never going to be another choice. Sadly, I suspect it will be my last SXSW. It’s very expensive and I think it has reached the point where there are just too many people turning up expecting free gigs. Although the council are trying to control the number of unofficial venues, based on this year, it’s not working.

Best gig photo: Vulvko at Camden Rocks

I’ve taken a lot of photos this year. I’ve been regularly shooting Daylight Music, often with good results. I’ve also been dragging my Sony A7s to many more gigs this year which has improved the quality of my photo (or often limited me due to the lens I decided I really needed but left at home!). I’m still standing in one position so that I don’t get in people’s way too much. So the quality of photos is heavily dependent on where I stand. But I’ve had some good results and most importantly, still enjoying taking photos and watching the gig. My favourite photo from this year, was this photo of the lead singer of Vukovi who stared down my lens to make sure I got her best side.

Album of the Year: Teens of Denial – Car Seat Headrest

A very late entry. For most of the year, my favourite album has been IV by Black Mountain. But I bought the latest album by Car Seat Headrest in December and its been on constant rotation. I suspect if you ask me next month, IV will be back at the top. But at the moment, this is rarely off my stereo.

Looking back over the year, I think there’s some pretty decent photos. Even when I’ve only had a pocket camera, I still managed to grab the odd decent photo. I’ve gathered together reasonable shots from each month.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

My most watched band of the year was Public Service Broadcasting, but as usual British Sea Power featured heavily along with a new band, Black Honey.

January was busier than in previous years featuring a number of new bands such as the fun Hinds, Tamun Shud, Jagarra and Saint Agnes. The highlight of the month was the postponed British Sea Power ‘Sea Of Brass’ concert at the Barbican.

February featured some excellent sets by Thurston Moore, Honeyblood, Peace and Public Service Broadcasting. I also caught new bands such as Dolomite Minor, Ex Hex and Songhoy Blues. The highlight was a visit to Leicester’s National Space Centre for Public Service Broadcasting’s album launch gig.

March proved to be a very busy month. Lots of new bands, some excellent, such as Courtney Barnett, Kid Wave, The Lovely Eggs, and a rather amazing group of Spanish teenagers, Mourn. It was also a chance to catch Bo Ningen being their usual expressive selves. The Staves also were sublime. February also featured two of the worst band of the year, Madonnatron and Giant Swan.

April featured some excellent sets from Wolf Alice, Saint Agnes, PROM, Nadine Shah, Saint Saviour and Jagarra, Laura Marling, PINS, Drenge. I also reappraised Bloody Knees who seem to have improved since I last saw them. Highlight was the Lock Tavern’s Easter freebie gigs with a whole host of excellent bands.

May looks quiet on paper. Only 12 gigs. In reality, I hardly had a free evening as two of those ‘gigs’ were The Great Escape festival and my first visit to Primavera Sound. As you can imagine, this meant I saw lots of bands, too many to run through. New band highlights were Black Honey and Torres.

As if it was possible, June was even busier than May, with 25 gigs during the month. From a gig in a Catalonia cathedral, to favourites such as British Sea Power, it was a varied month. Highlights were Blur, Coathangers, Torres, Savages, Sea of Bees, Wolf Alice. But the best gig of the month was British Sea Power at the Roundhouse celebrating the 12th anniversary and re-release of the ‘Decline of British Sea Power’.

July and August are ‘Classical’ months as the BBC Proms start. It’s also the time when bands seem to disappear off to festivals so there’s less happening around London. So both months were pretty quiet. July’s highlight was the Savages and Dead Forest Index’s Barbican ‘sound space’ and in August, Girl Band, a band who’s impressed me throughout 2015.

September was back to normal with some excellent sets by Torres, Drinks, Bo Ningen, Kid Wave, Kingsley Chapman and the Murder, Baba Naga, and Sexwitch. There was also a new mini (free) festival near Kings Cross from the Green Man Festival featuring some excellent bands. Hopefully, it will happen again next year. Highlight of September was Torres. Her Scala gig one of my highlights of the year.

In October I made my first ever visit to Butlins. They’d put together their own new indie festival , Rockaway Beach. It was pretty good. The line-up featuring lots of bands I didn’t know and some were excellent, such as the Band of Holy Joy, Membranes, John Knox Sex Club, Ghostpoet, Telescopes. Definitely something I’ll consider going to again.

November I managed to catch the Eagles of Death Metal. With the attacks in Paris a week after the London gig, it left many of us regular gig goers in reflective mood. They’re such a fun band that it somehow makes it worse. That they of all bands, were attacked. If you want any doubt of what kind of world ISIS wants to create, go to an EODM gig. The fun and joy they want to create, is the antithesis of what ISIS stands for and I for one know which world I want to live in. Other highlights were FEWS, Bully, Kingsley Chapman and Josh T Pearson.

December closed off the year in pretty good style with Christmas gigs from Josh T Pearson and British Sea Power and an excellent set from Queen Kwong. But there was also a surprise in the form of the Savages playing a relatively small venue in advance of the January launch of their new album. They are just such an impressive live band.

Best gig: Torres at Scala

I was really tempted to give the gig of the year to British Sea Power’s Roundhouse gig. It was an amazing gig for fans. But this year Torres has impressed me more than anyone else. Her album is sublime and her Scala gig with her full band was just amazing. She’s such an expressive singer so her album’s emotional numbers seemed to take an extra dimension when played live. At times you feel like putting an arm round her to comfort her, other times, almost scared that she’s about to go ‘psycho’!

Band of the year: Torres

I’ve seen her play on her own on a big stage at Primavera and also with her band at Scala and she’s equally impressive.

Best new band: Black Honey

Technically, 2015 was the first time I saw Torres. But I loved her first album and missed her 2014 tour. But as she’s won best band, I’m choosing a second band, Black Honey, as my new band of the year. I’d not heard much from them before I saw them at the Great Escape. I’ve since seem them four other tines. I think that says it all. They’re such a good live band and I’m looking forward to seeing them record and album in 2016. Definitely worth catching them live.

Best venue: Moth Club

A very late entry. I’ve only been twice and on consecutive nights at the end of November. The Moth Club is an old Services Club in Hackney and they’ve turned the function room into a gig venue. It’s a bit odd but that’s part of what I liked about it. They’ve created a great little venue. Yes it’s tacky with sparkly roof and lots of Service memorabilia on the walls. But I really liked it.

Best Festival: The Great Escape

Primavera was enjoyable but too big for me. I’d do it again because Barcelona is a lovely place to visit. Rockaway Beach was surprisingly good and I’m definitely going to consider going again. It was far better than I expected but it has some operation issues to sort out. It wasn’t too busy (which is a good thing in many ways) but this meant that outside of festival hours the place was dead and much of the Butlins site shut. With Bognor being pretty much dead in October, there’s little to do. So this doesn’t compare well to Brighton’s The Great Escape, where there’s more than enough to do if there’s a lull in the festival line-up. So for this reason, The Great Escape wins.

Worst Venue: Lock Tavern

Oddly, they put on a decent weekend at Easter. But it’s just too crowded. The venue is actually a through-room to the roof garden. So it’s really not a conducive space for a gig as there’s always people pushing by.  

Best gig photo: Black Honey at the Garage

I’ve already written about my favourite photos of the year. My favourite photo of the year was this photo of Black Honey taken with my pocket camera.

Album of the Year: Sprinter from Torres

‘Sprinter’ by Torres narrowly edged out ‘Holding Hands with Jamie’ by Girl Band.

I took more photos than ever and did two ‘proper shoots’ offering my services to Daylight Music. It’s definitely a different experience. Though enjoyable I don’t think I’d want to photograph every gig properly as the photography overrides the enjoyment of the music.

As usual I saw British Sea Power quite a few times, but this year, the Wytches take the award for most seen band, seeing them 8 times.

Best gig: The Wytches album launch at the ‘Old Operating Theatre’

A number of gigs stand out this year. British Sea Power’s Christmas Krankenhaus was a cracking evening as was their Brownsea Island gig.

BSP performing on the Ferry to Brownsea Island

The Wytches put in several blistering performances this year, but their standout gig was their album launch. An acoustic gig in an old operating theatre to a select audience. By no means their best performance of the year, but definitely the most memorable.

The Coathangers played the Shacklewell Arms in November. A gig I’d looked forward to for several months. Sometimes these gigs end up being disappointing. Unable to live up to your own expectations. This gig however, was everything I’d hoped and was an absolute blast. It  was also a pretty good day for music, with me fitting in four different venues.

The Coathangers at the Shacklewell Arms

Another really memorable concert was a BBC Prom. It took place on ‘lights out night’ that was taking place in London as part of the memorials for WWI. The Tallis Scholars sang in near darkness. As the lights of the Royal Albert Hall were lowered the Prommers held up small ‘electric candles’ creating a beautiful atmospheric event.

Another memorable evening was in the presence of Karen O’ as she played one of her low-key gigs at Bush Hall to support her new solo album. Nice to see the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s singer showing a more reflective side.

Karen O’ at Bush Hall

But I think, just for the oddness of the gig. The Wytches playing an acoustic gig to a very select audience in such an odd venue, has to be my favourite gig of the year.

Band of the year: The Wytches

Consistently good throughout the year.

Biggest disappointment: British Sea Power at the Barbican

The gig that didn’t happen! Unfortunately, with us all in our seats, the gig was cancelled 20 minutes before the start due to a power cut. You can’t get more disappointing than that.

Best new band: Wolf Alice

A number of new bands stood out this year. I finally got to see Wolf Alice having failed to see them in 2013. They have catchy tunes and put in great performances. With their first album being released this year, I think they’re destined to be big in 2015.

Honeyblood released their first album and split up shortly after. But the new line-up sounded good when I saw them late last year. Each performance seemed to be better than the last.

I think I first saw John J Preseley in 2013 as a support act. But I’ve since seen him perform as a headline act. I love his gritty blues rock sound. I’m hoping that he can capture his live sound on his album. It’s looking positive as the few singles he’s released sound great.

This is a very close category. But I’m going for Wolf Alice.

Best venue: Union Chapel

With me attending so many Daylight Music events and having explored behind the scenes when photographing for them. I’m going to have to give the ‘best venue’ award to Union Chapel. Every gig helps contribute towards the upkeep of the building and the bar and cafe helps pay to feed the homeless every week. So a good reason to give it the thumbs up.

Most Interesting venue: The Old Operating Theatre, The Wytches Album launch

Best Festival: The Great Escape

Not much competition this year. It tries to be SXSW but it’s not. There’s not enough venues and not enough bands. But it was still a decent enough festival and I’ve already booked for 2015.

Worst Venue: Village Underground

I just don’t like this venue. The space is too big. The bag searches, annoying. The audience are usually noisy. The gigs always seem poorly organised and it’s all ‘too Shoreditch’ for my liking.

Best gig photo: Ella and the Blisters at Hanwell Hootie

I’ve already written about my favourite photos of the year, and winner is Ella and the Blisters. I just think this captures the bands sound and performance so well.

Best gig video: Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer

Again, I didn’t create capture many videos. But this one is fun

Music Application of the year: Songkick

Songkick continues to be the most important music application.

I’m not sure how many bands I saw this year, but as I saw around 100 at SXSW, I must have seen at least 200 when taking into account support acts. Overall, it’s been a very good year. I can’t think of too many bad gigs. But as is customary, I’m going to run through the highlights and lowlights of 2013.

As usual I saw British Sea Power the most, seeing them six times. But this year they were closely followed by Bo Ningen and the Savages. Two excellent live bands.

This year was also a poor year for missed gigs, missing Alt-J, Veronica Falls, The Chapman Family, the Quietus Party, the KVB, Laura Marling (twice), Islet, Parquet Courts, Ruen Brothers, Loom, and the Dead Skeletons. Probably the one I’m most annoyed about missing is Parquet Courts as most of the other bands I managed to catch up with at some other time. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to catch up with them in 2014.

My 2013 Best and Worst

Best gig: British Sea Power at Bournemouth Arts Festival

What constitutes the best gig? The performance? The venue? The crowd? Probably something of all of these. The greatest gig may not necessarily be the best performance. This year there were a number of gigs in the running. Not necessarily the best performances but the overall package produced memorable results.

If you’ve read my blog, then you’ll notice British Sea Power feature prominently, so it’s to be expected that one of their gigs might feature on my ‘top’ list. This year two, feature prominently. The first, a trip down to Bournemouth, the second, a performance under the Cutty Sark. In both cases the venue contributed greatly to the enjoyment of the gig. Having a 900 tonne ship hovering overhead is not something that occurs regularly, so such an unusual event is going to feature highly. The other BSP gig, was also due to a combination of venue and sunset, hearing BSP practice on Bournemouth pier as the sun set made for a fantastic evening.

Another interesting gig, was the Bo Ningen, Savages joint performance of a ‘sound poem’. With each band situated on either side of me at times it did feel like I was being pummelled by a wall of sound.

But the gig of the year for me was BSP at the Bournemouth arts festival. Sitting listening to the band practice ‘Man of Aran’ while the sun set was a sublime experience, so that I went into the gig in such a good mood that it was always going to be a good performance.

Band of the year: Savages

A strong year for the Savages seeing them five times. Starting at the beginning of 2013 with a gig at the Electric Ballroom. At the time, this was a big venue for them. But as the year progressed and their year gigging on both sides of the Atlantic, the venues got bigger and bigger. Some bands are unable to grow their sound and performances. So by the time they were playing the Forum at the end of the year, their performances and stage shows had matured to fill the space.

Biggest disappointment: Babyshambles

I can’t stress how awful this gig was. Babyshambles were as their name suggests, a shambles, coming on late and completely drunk. I’ve never heard so many bum notes played in a single gig and the less said about Pete Doherty’s ‘performance’ the better. It was ‘sub-karaoke’ level.

A drunk Doherty performing karaoke

A notable mention to Frank Turner. If there was an award for blandest band of the year, he’d have won.

Best new band: The Wytches

Simply the best new band I’ve seen this year by a country mile. Love their sound and the lead singer’s cracked voice. Really think these could be big next year.

Best venue: The Lexington

Even though I went to several new venues this year, the Lexington continues to be my favourite venue. Just love the sound quality and the US beer available. Food’s also decent.

Best new venue: Shacklewell Arms

Great little venue in Dalston. Sound’s decent, beer selection’s not great, but it has football on in the main pub. Unusual for a gig venue but perfect for keeping me entertained between bands.

Parlour playing the Shacklewell Arms

Most Interesting venue: British Sea Power playing under the Cutty Sark

A 900 tonne hull hovering over your head. It’s not something you experience every day.

Best Festival: SXSW

Love this festival. 1800 bands, great films, and some work related stuff (not that I attended any of it), lots of opportunities for free food and beer, and generally great weather in one of the best cities in the USA. What’s not to love about it.

I love hopping between venues on 6th Street catching as many bands as possible.

I can’t afford SXSW 2014, but saving starts now for 2015!

Worst Venue: The Forum Hertfordshire

As much as I hate to write this again, work continues to win the award for the worst venue, even though it’s actually a very good venue. Sound and lighting are excellent, up there with the best. But the selection of music it plays and the overall experience of attending a gig continue to be sub-standard with poor queue handling (but usually pleasant), no food (especially out of term, which isn’t helpful when it’s in the middle of nowhere), poor beer selection (usually half the pumps are off), slow service (but usually pleasant service) and poor advertising of events.

Tips:

• Drop wristbands and use stamps
• Make sure that the other bars are opened up to support big events.
• Better selection of beer – or at least make sure that the beer isn’t going to run out during the gig.
• Better advertising for indie music.
• Better and more regular selection of bands so that people expect there to be bands playing and so regularly check listings.

Best gig photo:

My last post pulled together some of the photos I liked the most, taken during 2013. So have a look at that post for the contenders. But my favourite photo from 2013 was this photo of Thurston Moore taken at the Village Underground.

Best gig video:

Again, not too much choice as I didn’t take too many videos this year. So this wins really by default
[youtube G13KYdO0_vE 640]

Music Application of the year: Songkick

Songkick’s gone from strength to strength and again wins the award for Best App despite strong newcomers such as ‘Bands In Town’. It simply is the best source of information on upcoming gigs.

So what’s in store for 2014?

If I want to get to SXSW in 2015, then less of the same! I’m also hoping to get to some random gigs purely to take photos to improve by skills. Hopefully discovering some new bands along the way. But all in all, more of the same.

Addendum: Honorary Mention
I forgot to add an honorary mention for the extremely honest XOYO security staff who found my iPhone on Old Street one Saturday evening when I’d been attending gigs in Hoxton Square. They managed to get in touch with me through Facebook and I was reunited with my phone. Exemplary service.

My 2012 Best and Worst

I saw so many really good gigs this year that it’s hard to decide on a winner. Jack White with the Kills was special. British Sea Power’s Krankenhous’s were fantastic fun. Pulp at the Royal Albert Hall were as always, excellent. The Joy Formidable’s intimate gig at Kings College was also rather good. To close the year, the Hives as always were seriously good fun.

Best gig: Pulp playing for the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall

The way Pulp approached this gig was first-rate. It was pitched perfectly for the occasion. Jarvis as always enthralled the crowd. They even played the little heard ‘My Lighthouse’ accompanied by his sister and school friend. The song was Pulp’s first single released when they were still teenagers. Somehow, it seemed so fitting.

Pulp at the Royal Albert Hall

Band of the year: Jack White

Not so much a band but a man with two bands. Jack White was easily the ‘band of the year’. I saw him four times this year. Touring with two separate bands, the all-female Peacocks and the all-male Buzzards. Playing with no setlist Jack chose songs as the set went along. Playing material from across his career, reinterpreting each song for the different sound of each band. Each gig felt amazing. Of the two bands, The Peacocks impressed me the most. But both bands are very good.

Biggest disappointment: Joint winners – Mazzy Star and Frankie and The Heartstrings

I missed Mazzy Star when they were first around. Only recently getting into them. In the ‘iPod’ era I’ve fallen into ‘shuffle’ mentality. Listening to new albums a few times and then each song stands on its own feet in the ‘shuffle pack’. Sometimes my love of bands increases with shuffling as it’s somehow easier to see each song for what it is. Mazzy fall into this category. But this is where the problem lies. Their sound is different from most of my music so stands out. But an hour listening to dreamy music unfortunately turned out to be a mind-numbingly boring experience. Songs just seemed to run into each other. It got to the point where the entire set just washed over me leaving me completely numb.

I loved Frankie and the Heartstrings debut album. It was good old fashioned rock and roll. Simple, stripped back. It seemed to be just good fun. I managed to get free tickets to see them at the 100 Club. A double header with another band I’d been trying to see, Veronica Falls. Unfortuantely, for whatever reason, poor sound, too much beer, or most likely a rusty band who’d not played live for sometime, their set lacked everything that made the album interesting. I was left thoroughly disappointed.

Best support act: British Sea Power supporting Daniel Johnston

Ok. British Sea Power, or Texas Sea Power as they were known on the night, provided support for Daniel and acted as his backing band at the Union Chapel. To be honest. It was a short set. But they’re my favourite touring band. So they win by default.

British Sea Power at the Union Chapel

Best new support act:  Hey Sholay

I saw several really good new bands this year. Stealing Sheep, Lumineers and Hey Sholay stood out. It’s close between Stealing Sheep and Hey Sholay as to who is the winner. But Hey Sholay just edge it as they were the first of four bands supporting the Jezabels at Koko and still managed to stand out.

Hey Sholay

‘Weirdest’ gig: Ok Go

Watching a band taking the stage at an IBM conference at 8am in a Disney Conference Centre. That’s not normal.

Best gig in the ‘face of adversity’:

Hey Sholay at Hoxton Square. The band unfortunately had their instruments stollen a few weeks before the gig but managed to borrow enough equipment to put on a show. They played well, but everything was just ever so slightly off as they struggled to recreate their distinctive sound using their borrowed equipment. But I think everyone appreciated the effort they made to ensure the gig went ahead.

Best new band: Dead heat – The Savages and Alabama Shakes

I left out of my list of best gigs of the year two stunning gigs from The Savages (at Electrowerkz) and Alabama Shakes (at the Bostom Music Room). It’s a dead heat as to which band were the best. Both are simply stunning live.

A notable mention goes to Japandroids who were very close to making it a three way dead heat.

The Savages at Electrowerkz

Alabama Shakes
Best venue: The Lexington

The Lexington continues to be my favourite venue in London. It’s really convenient for my Kings Cross train. It has a great audio. Bands seem to enjoy playing there. What’s not to like about they place.

The US-themed Lexington
Best new venue: Madame JoJo’s

This venue surprised me. It was the first venue of the year. It’s a cabaret club in Soho. But it had a really cool retro ‘valvy’ quality to the sound. It doesn’t seem to be that great for stuff like beer and the doors seem to open late. But sound-wise, it definitely impressed.

Madame Jojo’s

Worst Venue: The Forum Hertfordshire

I hate to have to write this as I work for the University of Hertfordshire. But the Forum continues to be the worst venue. It’s not the venue itself. Sound-wise it can give most venues a run for its money. No, it’s simply because no one seems to attend any of the events I go to. For one gig, the support band were literally playing to me (a very uncomfortable experience but I couldn’t leave because that would have been even worse). There’s a few gigs coming up this year that hopefully will be better attended. Unfortunately, I suspect that they won’t.

Grainne Duffy, one of several bands playing to an almost empty room

Most embarrassing experience at a gig: Getting my ear plugs lodged in my ears

Bought some near ear plugs that were so small they managed to get wedged into my ears generating really awful high-pitched sounds. So I had to make an embarrassing trip to the medical room to get them removed missing much of the Robert Plant gig.

The offending items

Best gig photo: The Hives at the Roundhouse

With improved cameras. I took loads of photos this year. Choosing the best has been difficult. But the one that for me was the ‘best’ (it’s not ideally framed) that just seems to work with puppeteer background was this one from the Hives gig at the Roundhouse.

Best / Worst published photo: Mazzy Star

I was published for the first time – I don’t mean my photos appearing on a commercial website. That happens regularly. No I mean a photo appearing in a music magazine (Uncut). Unfortunately, it was an awful shot. But there were no photographers so they had little choice but to use the audience photos on Flickr. But unfortunately the lack of lighting was beyond my poor little Olympus XZ1’s capability. But still, I’m published.

Best gig video: Pulp – ‘My Lighthouse’

I rarely take videos at gigs. I find I either miss too much of the gig because I’m concentrating on the video or I’m spending too much time watching the gig and not the screen that I end focusing on the lighting. There’s also the issue of sound. If you’re at the front. Usually the little microphones on pocket cameras distort. But despite this problem effecting the winning video. The best video of the year has to go to Pulp’s rare ‘My Lighthouse’. Not the best quality video, sound or camerawork. But it captures the very rare event and that’s the most important thing.

[youtube Jd3CSzfRc-w 600]

Music Application of the year: Songkick

Songkick’s gone from strength to strength. It’s now replaced Last.fm as my source of information about upcoming gigs. It manages to keep me informed of most of my favourite bands and constantly throws up gigs that I’d never have known about.

So what’s in store for 2013?

Although 2013 will see me make a return to SXSW. The cost of the trip will most likely mean that I’ll have to curtail the number of gigs I attend for the rest of the year. I’m sure SXSW will throw up some new bands for me to follow that will keep me busy this year. But I’ve already got a handful lined up. The always excellent Black Crowes return to the UK in March. British Sea Power will be releasing a new album and will no doubt tour the country and hopefully play somewhere interesting that’s worth a visit and hopefully the Savages who are quickly becoming one of my favourite bands, will start to make some traction and I’ll manage to catch them a few times this year. So I’m sure I’ll be kept busy